Idle Gossip
by Sybrant67
Summary: Finn overheards some gossip that sends him into a bit of a spin.  AN: Deals with teen suicide .
1. Chapter 1

It never took long for gossip to spread through the corridors of McKinley, so it wasn't really a surprise that by the end of the first period it was all anyone could talk about.

"Did you hear..."

"...found him near the dumpsters..."

"...killed himself..."

"..yeah, the gay kid..."

Finn froze as the louder voices of the two jocks walking past momentarily drown out the stream of babble that had proceeded non stop from Rachel for the last 15 minutes. Ignoring her cry of 'Finn!' he quickly span on the spot and caught up with the two guys – both of whom stared at him in shock as he skidded to a halt in front of them.

"What did you just say?" Finn grabbed the boy closest to him, shaking him by the arms.

"Dude!"

"Tell me! What about the gay kid?"

"You haven't heard? Kid was found near the dumpsters this morning, slit his wrists or some shit like that. "

"Who?" Finn asked thickly, a heavy weight settling in his stomach.

"Dunno his name. Some junior. Apparently kid topped himself cause he was a fag or something."

Finn swallowed heavily, staggering back against the lockers. Desperately he wracked his brain, trying to remember the last time he had seen his sorta-brother.

"Lunchtime."

"Finn?" Looking up, he stared blankly at Rachel's pale face.

"Lunchtime yesterday. That's the last time I saw Kurt." His voice caught on the other boys name. "Please. Please tell me you've seen him today."

Rachel's eyes widened in realisation, her small hand flying to her mouth as she shook her head.

"I haven't... I..." She paused, quickly rooting through her bag till she pulled out her phone. Finn watched eagerly as she scrolled through her contacts before hitting call.

"Its...its ringing out. I'll try Mercades!"

Finn could swear his heart actually stopped. Kurt always had his phone on him.

"Mercades! Oh thank god. Is Kurt with you?"

Finn released a shuddering breath, hand running nervously through his hair as he watched his girlfriend's expression. The heavy feeling in his stomach grew worse as Rachel's expression dropped.

"Have you...have you seen him at all today?"

Finn didn't wait to hear the answer. It didn't take a genius to read Rachel's expression as she looked up at in hopelessly. Pushing off the lockers he ran down the corridor, ignoring the bell as it heralded start of second period. Pausing at the first classroom he came across he yanked open the door, quickly scanning the occupants for any sign of the other boy. Ignoring the teacher's sputtered inquiry he slammed the door closed, heading down to the next classroom. By the fifth classroom he felt like he was going to throw up. By the ninth he was fairly certain his heart was about to pound its way out of his chest.

He didn't even realise he'd started yelling until the classroom doors started opening before he got to them.

"Kurt? Kurt?" Pushing past the teacher into the science room he ignored the jabbering man, eyes catching briefly on Pucks startled ones before running back out of the room.

"Dude! Wait up!" Puck had obviously followed him but he wasn't going to stop. Not until he...

Finn wasn't entirely sure what happened next. He caught sight of Rachel out of the corner of his eye. She was power walking up the empty corridor pulling a reluctant-

"...breathe. Finn, you need to let him go dude!" Blinking heavily Finn found himself somehow looking up at Puck's shocked face. Something heavy was squirming against him; hair tickling the underside of his chin. Shifting slightly, but strangely reluctant to loosen his hold, he looked down into Kurt's wide eyes. Blinking back the tears that had started to fall he resolutely pulled the smaller boy tighter against him, ignoring the fact he was sat slumped against the wall in the corridor with his sorta-brother tucked tightly against his chest. The others voices washed over him as he closed his eyes; his concentration entirely fixed on the warm body safely cocooned in his arms.


	2. Chapter 2

Kurt's POV

Kurt was not having the best day. Actually, that would have been putting it mildly. Catastrophic would describe it better. There must have been a power cut or something during the night, as when he'd awoken that morning it wasn't to the usual sound of his radio going off but instead to the sight of 00:00 flashing tauntingly at him from his bedside table. Luckily his internal clock had woken him only 30 minutes after his normal time but that was still 30 minutes later than he needed to complete his morning routine. Skipping his aerobics DVD left him feeling slightly off but shaved off enough time to still choose an outfit, cram in some breakfast and get to school with 10 minutes before the first bell.

So of course it would be that morning that the student car-park was closed off. He'd only taken a moment to watch Lima's finest roping off the area with yellow crime tape before an officer knocked on his window, pointing back the way he'd just come. Slamming his car into reverse Kurt quickly turned the Navigator around and headed for the second student car park; one he tended to avoid as it was farther from the school and therefore gave the Jocks more chance to catch up with him after lessons ended for the day. Quickly pulling into the first spot large enough for his baby (seriously – some people needed to be reminded that cars were generally parked in between those two white lines, not where ever was easiest to abandon their vehicles!), Kurt grabbed his bag off the passenger seat and hopped down out of the car. Quick marching his way across the car park he dug around in his satchel trying to find his phone; if anyone knew what the police were doing around school it'd be Mercedes. His girl may occasionally look like she'd gotten dressed in the dark but she always had access to the freshest gossip!

"Where the hell..." Brow furrowing Kurt suddenly had a moment of clarity; a perfect image of his new iphone sat charging on his dresser (Gaga knew he loved his new phone but the battery life was beyond shit and the thing needed charging nightly). If anyone later asked him he would vehemently deny he considered missing first period to go back and get it or that the idea of being phoneless for a day filled him with a strange feeling of loss.

The late bell rang just as he got to the school doors, but luck seemed to be finally on his side as there were no teachers loitering about to mark him down as late. With no time to head to his locker, which was the other side of the school at this point, Kurt made his way straight to first period (Maths), something he later regretted as his fully completed homework sat uselessly in said locker...not that Mr. Lindsey had believed him that toad. He'd ended up having to spend his precious 'in between class gossip time' trying to explain the situation rather than catching up with Mercedes and was therefore almost late for his second period (French) when he still had to make a mad dash to his locker to swap out his books.

Dropping into his seat just before the second bell rang heralding the start of the session Kurt breathed a sigh of relief. Surely that had to be it. Bad luck ran in threes right? His alarm not going off, forgetting his phone and leaving his homework in his locker - that was three...so that was it. When Rachel Berry came bursting into his classroom several minutes later screeching his name Kurt realised he had to accept that the universe hated him today.

"KURT!"

"Rachel wha-gah!"

Rachel practically flew over the desk, slinging her arms around his neck and hugging him tightly.

"OhMyGodKurtyou'realiveyou'realive!"

Prying Rachel's arms from around his neck was harder than it should have been for someone so small. Kurt would have been embarrassed if he wasn't so busy trying to breath. Luckily for him Mrs Dubois finally got over her shock and stepped in.

"What's going on?"

Kurt was shocked to see tears pouring down Rachel's face when she pulled back. Her crying at losing a solo he'd understand, but this?

"I'm sorry Mrs Dubois but Kurt and I have to go now." She didn't leave him any time to reply, instead grabbing his wrist and utilising her freakish strength to hall him out of his seat and out of the classroom while his brain struggled to process what was happening.

"Rachel what the hell!" Kurt tried to yank his wrist free, mortified when he couldn't.

"We have to find Finn."

"Why?" Kurt wasn't sure if Rachel actually had a destination in mind, but where ever they were heading they were going at a determinedly brisk pace.

"Because he thinks you're dead." That was the last thing he'd expected her to say. Stumbling when he tried to stop only to be yanked forwards into motion again Kurt could only gape at the back of her head.

"Dude wait up!" Glancing up the corridor past steamroller-Rachel, Kurt could see Puck hurrying after a rather alarming looking Finn. A Finn who's gaze had locked firmly on Kurt the second they had come into view.

"Finn! I-" Rachel squeaked as she was unceremoniously pushed aside by the larger boy. For the second time that day Kurt found himself the unwilling victim of a surprise hug. Unlike Rachel however, Finn's larger frame enveloped the smaller boy, pulling him tight against his broad chest. A year ago Kurt would have given anything to be in this position but right now he just wanted the bigger boy to-

"-let go!" Kurt tried raising his arms to push at the other boy but they were trapped at his sides.

He could make out Puck and Rachel's muffled voices talking but having Finn's beefy arms partially wrapped round his head prevented him from hearing what was being said. There was no warning as Finn's legs suddenly folded under him, dragging them both to the ground. Kurt found himself practically sitting in the larger boy's lap, the new position allowing him to move his arms from his sides to in between their chests. Instead of pushing away though, for some reason Kurt found himself fisting the material of Finn's shirt. He could feel the tiny shudders running through the other boy's larger frame; his cheek resting against the top of Kurt's head as Finn unconsciously rocked them both. Looking up when he felt the other boy pull back, Kurt wasn't surprised to see his eyes were red, tears running down his face.

Whatever happened had obviously really shaken Finn, so if for now he felt the need to use Kurt as a human teddybear...well...it's not like it was really going to make much of a difference to his social standing in this hell hole.

* * *

Next Chapter – A Visit to Miss Pillsbury's office.


End file.
